Wednesday, October 25, 2017

The Haunted Hotel Del Coronado : San Diego has many haunted hotels, but the hotel Del Coronado remains one of San Diego's most haunted locations. The haunted hotel is located on Coronado island and continues to be one of the top hotels in San Diego since it was built in 1888.

Kate Morgan reportedly killed herself with a gunshot to the head. Her body was found on the steps
leading to the beach. A ghostly apparition
is seen not only in her room, (which is now room 3312) but around other areas
of the hotel as well.

Haunted Room 3312 : Visitors have experienced flickering lights, a television that turns on and off, cold breezes coming from nowhere, strange smells and sounds, things moving on their own, doors opening and closing by themselves, and unexplained footsteps and voices.

Her apparition has also been seen walking along the beach, down the hallways, and in the gift shop. Objects in the gift shop fly off the shelves by themselves! The items usually land upright and always unbroken?

Kate Morgan, a young woman in her mid-twenties, checked into the hotel alone under the name "Lottie A Bernard" from Detroit. Five days later, on November 29th, Kate was found dead outside on the hotel staircase leading to the beach. She had a gunshot wound to the head, which the San Diego coroner later determined to be self-inflicted. Some believe she was murdered. According to hotel employees, she arrived to the hotel alone and unhappy. She was waiting for a gentleman to join her. After five lonely days Kate was found dead!!! Who was the man she was supposed to meet?

The 1980 investigation by a San Francisco lawyer determined that foul play was very possible. His evidence was a statement during the coroner's inquest that mentioned that the bullet in Morgan's head did not match that of her own gun!!!!!!

Area 51 Filmed Up Close By UFO Investigators : Tim Doyle and Tracey Sue recently captured video of Area 51! They filmed the top secret base from Tikaboo Peak which is about 42 miles away. The base was so far they had to use a telephoto lens! Check them out at Ufo Seekers on Youtube!

Monday, July 17, 2017

Strange Alien Signal Detected From Dwarf Star Ross 128 : GETTY Researchers think they may have found evidence of alien life. The signal is coming from a red dwarf star know as Ross 128. There are no known planets around Ross 128, adding to the mystery. University of Puerto Rico astrobiologist Abel Mendez said that the star was observed for 10 min using the Arecibo Observatory - a massive radio telescope in Puerto Rico.

Mr Mendez said that the signal was "almost periodic", and although it is unlikely that it originates from alien beings, it cannot be ruled out.

He said: "Success will be to find the signal again in the star but not its surrounding[s]. If we don't get the signal then the mystery deepens.

Has E.T. phoned home? We will know someday.

Picture : Ross 128 is a small red dwarf star in the constellation of Virgo. ESA/NASA

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Prehistoric Fish Alive Today : Welcome to our list of top prehistoric fish alive today! What other prehistoric creatures are still in our oceans?? This list proves there are many strange creatures left in this world to discover!

Coelacanth

The Coelacanth is the most famous of all “living fossils”, because it is the best example of a “Lazarus
taxon”, this is, animals that were supposed to be long extinct and are
unexpectedly found to be alive. Coelacanths were supposed to have become
extinct in the Cretaceous period, along with the dinosaurs, but in
1938, a live specimen was caught in South Africa. Since then, more
specimens have been seen and photographed, and a second coelacanth
species was even found in Indonesia in 1999.

Coelacanths are large
predators, up to 2 meters (6′ 6″) long; they feed on smaller fish,
including small sharks, and are usually found in deep, dark waters.
Although rarely captured and consumed due to their horrible taste,
coelacanths are critically endangered nowadays.

Hagfish

According to the fossil record, hagfish have existed for over 300
million years, which means they were already old when dinosaurs took
over the world! Found in relatively deep waters, these animals are
sometimes called slime eels, but they are not really eels, and actually,
they may not even be fish at all, according to some scientists. They
are very bizarre animals in all regards; they have a skull but lack a
spine, and they have two brains. Almost blind, they feed at night on the
carcasses of large animals (fish, cetaceans etc) which fall to the sea
bottom. They owe their “slime eel” nickname to the fact that they
produce a slimey substance to damage the gills of predatory fish; as a
result, they have virtually no natural enemies.

Lancetfish

The lancetfish has a very obvious “prehistoric” appearance, with those
fierce-looking, sharp teeth on its jaws and the sail on its back,
reminiscent of that of some dinosaurs (although, in the lancetfish the
sail is actually an enlarged dorsal fin). Even its scientific name has a
dinosaurian sound to it (Alepisaurus ferox). Up to two meters (6′ 6″)
in length, this predator is found in all the oceans except for polar
regions; very voracious, it feeds on smaller fish and squid, and has
known to feed on members of its own species sometimes.

Frilled Shark

This deep sea predator, one of the most primitive sharks alive today, is
a relic from the Cretaceous period, when dinosaurs ruled the Earth.
Seldom seen alive, and only recently filmed for the first time, the
frilled shark can grow up to 2 meters (6′ 6″) (with females being larger
than males) and they live in deep waters, where they feed mostly on
squid.

They are not dangerous to humans, and as a matter of fact, most
frilled sharks spend their whole lives without seeing a human being.
Only dead or dying specimens are usually seen and recorded by fishermen
or scientists.

Arowana

Belonging to the ancient group of the Osteoglossids, these fish already
existed in the Jurassic period. Today, they are found in the Amazon, and
in parts of Africa, Asia and Australia. Sometimes kept as exotic pets,
arowanas are voracious predators that feed on any small animal they can
catch, including birds and bats which they catch in mid flight (they are
able to leap up to 2 meters (6′ 6″) into the air). In China, arowanas
are known as “dragon-fish” due to their appearance, and they are thought
to be harbingers of good luck.

Polypterus Senegalus

These fish are often called “dinosaur eels”, due to their
reptilian appearance and serrated dorsal fin, reminiscent of some
dinosaurs’ spiked backs. They are not really eels, but members of the
bichir family. Bichirs were already around in the Cretaceous, so the
“dinosaur” part of their name is actually fitting in a way. Although
often sold as exotic pets, dinosaur eels are prone to escaping their
fish tanks. They can survive out of the water for long periods of time
as long as their skin remains wet, which enables them to wander far away
from their tank.

Sturgeon

Another survivor from the age of dinosaurs (they were already around in
the early Jurassic), the sturgeon is well known for being one of the
main sources of caviar (which is made out of their roe or egg masses);
due to overfishing, these magnificent, armored fish are sadly endangered
nowadays.

The largest sturgeon species can grow up to 6 meters (19′ 7″)
long, being as large as most great white sharks; they feed on small
animals from the sea bottom and pose no danger to humans, unless
provoked (although they are so big that they have hurt, and even killed,
people unintentionally by leaping out of the water and landing on
boats!)

Arapaima

A close relative to the arowana, the Amazonian arapaima is
sometimes considered to be the largest freshwater fish in the world.
According to early descriptions, it could grow up to 4.5 meters (14′ 8″)
long, but today, enormous individuals like these are seldom found and
most adult arapaimas average 2 meters (6′ 6″) long.

These slow moving
predators feed on smaller fish, crustaceans and whatever small animal
they can fit in their mouth. An interesting trait of this fish is that
it needs to breath oxygen from the air, like a cetacean, in order to
survive. Arapaimas pose no danger to humans and are often hunted for
their meat; unfortunately, they are very scarce nowadays.

Although the
arapaima seemingly appeared in the Miocene period, it belongs to a much
older family, the Osteoglossidae, and therefore its origins can be
traced back to the age of dinosaurs.

Sawfish

This critically endangered animal is a survivor from the Cretaceous
period, and can be found both in saltwater or in rivers and creeks, and
has been found up to 100 kms inland. Up to 7 meters (23′) in length,
sawfish may look like sharks but are actually more closely related to
rays. Their “saw” is both a weapon and a sensory organ, covered on
electro-sensitive pores which allow it to sense prey despite its
terrible eyesight. Although usually peaceful, the sawfish can become
extremely dangerous if provoked.

Due to an extraordinary fossil, we know
that gigantic, prehistoric sawfish were probably a staple food for the
largest carnivorous dinosaur, Spinosaurus, as a vertebra from the fish
was found stuck between the dinosaur’s teeth.

Alligator Gar

This formidable, thick scaled predator is found in the southern US and
northern and eastern Mexico, being the largest freshwater fish in North
America (although it sometimes wanders into the sea).

It can grow up to 4
meters (13′) long and weigh up to 200 kgs (440lbs). Gator gars are so
called because of their reptilian appearance and long jaws, armed with a
double row of sharp teeth.

They are voracious ambush predators and have
been known to bite humans on occasion, although no confirmed deaths due
to alligator gars have been recorded to date. Gars are among the oldest
fish alive today; their origins can be traced back to the Cretaceous
period.

We hope you have enjoyed our list! Subscribe to our paranormal blog and check out our other pages!

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

New Electric Bacteria Discovered : Unlike any other living thing on Earth, electric bacteria use energy in its purest form – naked electricity in the shape of electrons harvested from rocks and metals. We already knew about two types, Shewanella and Geobacter. Now, biologists are showing that they can entice many more out of rocks and marine mud by tempting them with a bit of electrical juice. Experiments growing bacteria on battery electrodes demonstrate that these novel, mind-boggling forms of life are essentially eating and excreting electricity. At the Goldschmidt geoscience conference in Sacramento, California, last month, Shiue-lin Li of Nealson's lab presented results of experiments growing electricity breathers in sediment collected from Santa Catalina harbour in California. Yamini Jangir, also from the University of Southern California, presented separate experiments which grew electricity breathers collected from a well in Death Valley in the Mojave Desert in California.

Over at the University of Minnesota in St Paul, Daniel Bond and his colleagues have published experiments showing that they could grow a type of bacteria that harvested electrons from an iron electrode (mBio, doi.org/tqg). That research, says Jangir's supervisor Moh El-Naggar, may be the most convincing example we have so far of electricity eaters grown on a supply of electrons with no added food.

But Nealson says there is much more to come. His PhD student Annette Rowe has identified up to eight different kinds of bacteria that consume electricity. Those results are being submitted for publication.

Nealson is particularly excited that Rowe has found so many types of electric bacteria, all very different to one another, and none of them anything likeShewanella or Geobacter. "This is huge. What it means is that there's a whole part of the microbial world that we don't know about."

That should not come as a complete surprise, says Kenneth Nealson at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. We know that life, when you boil it right down, is a flow of electrons: "You eat sugars that have excess electrons, and you breathe in oxygen that willingly takes them." Our cells break down the sugars, and the electrons flow through them in a complex set of chemical reactions until they are passed on to electron-hungry oxygen.

In the process, cells make ATP, a molecule that acts as an energy storage unit for almost all living things. Moving electrons around is a key part of making ATP. "Life's very clever," says Nealson. "It figures out how to suck electrons out of everything we eat and keep them under control." In most living things, the body packages the electrons up into molecules that can safely carry them through the cells until they are dumped on to oxygen.

"That's the way we make all our energy and it's the same for every organism on this planet," says Nealson. "Electrons must flow in order for energy to be gained. This is why when someone suffocates another person they are dead within minutes. You have stopped the supply of oxygen, so the electrons can no longer flow."

The discovery of electric bacteria shows that some very basic forms of life can do away with sugary middlemen and handle the energy in its purest form – electrons, harvested from the surface of minerals. "It is truly foreign, you know," says Nealson. "In a sense, alien."

Nealson's team is one of a handful that is now growing these bacteria directly on electrodes, keeping them alive with electricity and nothing else – neither sugars nor any other kind of nutrient. The highly dangerous equivalent in humans, he says, would be for us to power up by shoving our fingers in a DC electrical socket.

To grow these bacteria, the team collects sediment from the seabed, brings it back to the lab, and inserts electrodes into it.

First they measure the natural voltage across the sediment, before applying a slightly different one. A slightly higher voltage offers an excess of electrons; a slightly lower voltage means the electrode will readily accept electrons from anything willing to pass them off. Bugs in the sediments can either "eat" electrons from the higher voltage, or "breathe" electrons on to the lower-voltage electrode, generating a current. That current is picked up by the researchers as a signal of the type of life they have captured.

Sea Monster Discovered : A spectacularly well-preserved sea monster that once prowled the oceans during the Cambrian Period has been unearthed in China.

The 520-million-year-old creature, one of the first predators of its day, sported compound eyes, body armor and two spiky claws for grabbing prey.

The fossils of the new species were so well preserved that the nervous system and parts of the brain were still clearly defined.

Before the Cambrian Period, which lasted between 543 million and 493 million years ago, most life resembled simple algae and stationary jellyfishlike creatures, but during the Cambrian explosion, a period of rapid evolution when biodiversity exploded, swimming sea creatures with compound eyes, jointed legs and hard exoskeletons emerged.

The period also saw the rise of an iconic group of shrimplike creatures known as anomalocaridids. These ancient sea monsters were the top predators of the Cambrian seas, and sported bladed body armor and a cone-shaped mouth made of concentric plates. Some of the biggest of these bizarre creatures could grow to be up to 6 feet (1.8 meters) long.

But most anomalocaridid specimens paleontologists found have been poorly preserved, making it difficult to know precisely where they fit in the tree of life, said co-author Peiyun Cong, a researcher at Yunnan University in China.

Some scientists thought anomalocaridids belonged to a group that split off before the most recent common ancestor of all living arthropods, while others thought the animals were part of a group called chelicerates that includes spiders and scorpions. Still others thought anomalocaridids had converged upon similar features to those of modern arthropods but didn't evolve from the same lineage, Cong said.

Well-preserved specimens

In the last several years, the researchers unearthed three spectacularly preserved specimens of a new species of anomalocaridid in fossil sediments in China. The sediments had frozen these creatures in time so perfectly that the entire nervous system, as well as the gut and some muscles, were still visible.

Friday, March 14, 2014

Oldest Zircon Crystal Fragment on Earth Discovered : By zapping single atoms of lead in a tiny zircon crystal from Australia, researchers have confirmed the crystal is the oldest rock fragment ever found on Earth 4.375 billion years old, plus or minus 6 million years.

"We've proved that the chemical record inside these zircons is trustworthy," said John Valley, lead study author and a geochemist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. The findings were published yesterday in the journal Nature Geoscience.

Confirmation of the zircon age holds enormous implications for models of early Earth. Trace elements in the oldest zircons from Australia's Jack Hills range suggest they came from water-rich, granite-like rocks such as granodiorite or tonalite, other studies have reported. That means Earth cooled quickly enough for surface water and continental-type rocks just 100 million years after the moon impact, the massive collision that formed the Earth-moon system.

"The zircons show us the earliest Earth was more like the Earth we know today," Valley said. "It wasn't an inhospitable place."

Dubious historyZircons are one of the toughest minerals on the planet. The ancient Australian crystals date back to just 165 million years after Earth formed, and have survived tumbling trips down rivers, burial deep in the crust, heating, squeezing and a tectonic ride back to the surface. The Australian zircons, from the Jack Hills, aren't the oldest rocks on Earth those are in Canada but about 3 billion years ago, the minerals eroded out some of Earth's first continental crust and became part of a riverbed.

Geologists have carefully sorted out more than 100,000 microscopic Jack Hills zircons that date back to Earth's early epochs, from 3 billion to nearly 4.4 billion years ago. (The planet is 4.54 billion years old.) The crystals contain microscopic inclusions, such as gas bubbles, that provide a unique window into conditions on Earth as life arose and the first continents formed.

Just three of the very oldest zircons have been found, ones that date back to almost 4.4 billion years ago. Their extreme age always makes the dates suspect, because of possible radiation damage. The radiation damage means the zircons could have been contaminated during their long lifetime.

Zircons hold minute amounts of two naturally occurring uranium isotopes isotopes are atoms of the same element with different numbers of neutrons. Uranium radioactively decays to lead at a steady rate. Counting the number of lead isotopes is how scientists date the crystals. But as the uranium kicks out lead atoms, the radioactive decay releases alpha particles, which can damage the crystals, creating defects. These defects mean fluids and outside elements can infiltrate the crystals, casting doubt on any conclusions about early Earth based on the zircons.

More important, uranium and lead can move around within a crystal, or even escape or enter the zircon. This mobility can throw off the lead isotope count used to calculate the zircon ages, and is the source of the decades-long controversy over the Jack Hills zircons' Methuselah lifespan.

"If there's a process by where lead can move from one part of the crystal to another place, then the place where lead is concentrated will have an older apparent age and the place from where it moves will have a younger apparent age," Valley said.

Atom by atomValley and his co-authors hope to end the debate by showing that even though one of the oldest Jack Hills zircons suffered radiation damage, the lead atoms stayed in place. The researchers painstakingly counted individual lead atoms within the oldest-known zircon with a recently developed technique called atom-probe tomography. Inside the zircon, lead atoms clustered together in damage zones just a few nanometers wide. Imagine cliques of teens during high school lunch like teenagers, no lead atoms had left their zones.

"We've demonstrated this zircon is a closed geochemical system, and we've never been able to do that before," Valley said. "There's no question that many zircons do suffer radiation damage, but I think relative to these zircons, this should settle it once and for all," Valley told Live Science's Our Amazing Planet.

The key finding, that lead atoms stick close to home inside this primeval zircon, means age estimates based on uranium-lead dating techniques are accurate, the researchers report. The lead hasn't wiggled around enough to throw off the ages. A typical age measurement, made with a machine called an ion probe, zaps zircon segments that are thousands of times larger than the damage clusters.

"This careful piece of work should settle the debate because it shows that indeed there is some mobility of lead, which was hypothesized to result in dates that were too old, but the scale of mobility is nanometers," said Samuel Bowring, a geochemist at MIT, who was not involved in the study."Even the smallest volumes analyzed with the ion probe average out the heterogeneities," or variations within the zircon.

The new atom-probe technique, while extremely laborious, can also be used to address questions of reliability at other sites where extremely old rocks have been found, the researchers said.

"Good zircons are forever, and what this does is help us separate the wheat from the chaff in a way we could never do before," Valley said.

Monday, January 20, 2014

Night Marchers / Huaka'i Po : Night Marchers are Hawaiian ghostly apparitions who move around the Hawaiian islands to the beat of primitive pounding drums. Some say they are armed spirit warriors, toting weaponry and clothed in ancient Hawaiian attire. Other accounts tell of high-ranking alii (ruler) spirits being guided to places of great importance or to welcome new warriors to join in battle. Maybe these restless souls are looking to reclaim their territory, replay a battle gone awry, or avenge their own deaths. Some say the Night Marchers are searching methodically for an entrance into the next world.

Huaka'i Po / Night Marchers are said to roam through very specific locations throughout the Hawaiian islands, between seashore and mountains and are often recognized by their raised torches and repeated olis, or chants. Although there have been a few scattered reports of daytime marches, these apparitions appear to be most active at night and are said to march on certain nights designated by the moon. And although the Night Marchers allegedly float a few inches off the ground, some local accounts tell of seeing mysterious footprints in their path after they’ve passed.

There are two different processions, it seems, according to legend, who march on two separate nights. The first consists of kings, chieftains, priests, and their attendants. Each chief is carried in a sling, befitting his station, though the warrior chiefs are prone to walk between two of their warriors. They are most often reported near old temples, with flutes and drums heralding them, as well as laughter.

The second type of procession is seen just after sunset and lasts until sunrise the next morning. Comprised of warriors, chiefs, and the gods themselves, this phenomenon is marked by high winds that seem to snap branches off trees, with bright torches to honor the gods. They are also often associated with sudden lightning storms and rough surf.

Legend has it, meeting their eyes will result in them claiming the soul of yourself, relatives or friends and taking it with them to march for all eternity. Any sound or movement could invite a Night Marcher’s deadly glance.

Monday, January 13, 2014

The Roman Catholic Church is training new exorcists, because of increases in possible demonic cases.

Dioceses across Italy, as well as in countries such as Spain, are increasing the number of priests schooled in administering the rite of exorcism, fabled to rid people of possession by the Devil.

The rise in demonic cases is a result of more people dabbling in practices such as black magic, paganism, Satanic rites and Ouija boards, often exploring the dark arts with the help of information readily found on the internet, the Church said.

The increase in the number of priests being trained to tackle the phenomenon is also an effort by the Church to sideline unauthorised, self-proclaimed exorcists, and its tacit recognition that belief in Satan, once regarded by Catholic progressives as an embarrassment, is still very much alive.

The trend comes four decades after the 1973 release of The Exorcist, the American horror film based on the demonic possession of a 12-year-old girl and attempts to exorcise her by two priests.

Monday, January 6, 2014

Cryptozoology News : A new species of sea anemone has been found on the underside of Antarctica's ice sheets. This newly found sea species are the only marine animals known to live embedded in the ice, and no one is sure how they survive.

Frank Rack of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and colleagues made the surprise find when they drilled through the ice for a geological study. They were using a camera attached to a remote-controlled drill to explore the underside of the Ross Ice Shelf when they discovered large numbers of the white anemones, which they christened Edwardsiella andrillae, burrowed inside the ice with only their tentacles dangling into the water.

Marymegan Daly at the Ohio State University analysed samples, but dissecting the creatures revealed little – they looked just like any other anemone.

"I would never have guessed that they live embedded in the ice because there is nothing different about their anatomy," she says.

Other species burrow into surfaces by inching their bodies in or digging with their tentacles, but ice should be too hard, says Daly, who thinks the new species may secrete chemicals to dissolve the ice. It is also unclear how they survive without freezing, and how they reproduce.

"We would like to have some genetic information so we can answer some of these questions," Daly says. Unfortunately, as the team were not expecting to find animal life, they only had a preservative with them that could fix the animals' anatomy but destroyed their DNA.

Cryptozoology News : New sea creatures discovered in the North Atlantic off the Scottish coast. Surveys off the continental shelf in the North Atlantic have uncovered a brand new species of large sea snail, two kinds of clams and a marine worm.

International experts have now confirmed that they are completely new to science — meaning the mysterious molluscs have managed to avoid detection during decades of underwater research around the Rockall plateau.

The finds a could indicate the presence of a cold seep, where hydrocarbons are released from the sea bed. If confirmed, it would be the first cold seep to be discovered in the vicinity of Rockall.

Scottish Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead said: “Our oceans are often called Earth’s final frontier and these new species prove just how much we still have to learn about this rich marine habitat.

“Scottish waters cover an area around five times bigger than our land mass and are miles deep in places, and these hidden gems offer a fascinating glimpse of the treasures that still await discovery under the waves.

“While understanding more about these great depths is clearly very challenging, we know that Scotland’s seas are home to a diverse range of precious sea life and it is our responsibility to protect this fragile environment.

“The area where these species were found is not currently fished and the confirmation of a cold seep is likely to result in the region being closed to bottom contact fishing.”

Jim Drewery from Marine Scotland Science, who oversaw the research on the deep water invertebrates, said: “The discovery of these new species is absolutely incredible, especially when you consider that the sea snail measures a relatively large 10cm, yet has gone undetected for decades.

“Its capture on these surveys could be due to the new techniques we are now employing at Marine Scotland Science in our research on the deep sea floor.”

WWF Scotland director Lang Banks said: “Scotland’s seas have once again thrown up some truly amazing new wildlife. These surveys highlight that we’ve still so much to learn when it comes to life beneath the waves.

“These latest discoveries underline the need for a precautionary approach in the management and use of our seas.

“The location where these species were found is not currently fished and we hope it stays that way. However, we now know enough to say that the area should certainly be put off limits to any future plans for oil and gas exploration.”

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Large Cat Species Discovered : Scientists have discovered that two populations of tigrina previously thought to be one species do not, in fact, interbreed and thus are distinct, according to results published today in Current Biology.

“So much is still unknown about the natural world, even in groups that are supposed to be well-characterized, such as cats,” says the study’s lead author, Eduardo Eizirik of Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil.

“In fact, there are many basic aspects that we still don’t know about wild cats, [including] their precise geographic distribution and their diets.”

Eizirik’s results have implications for conservation efforts—particularly laws about poaching and the designation of national parkland. Such measures are often focused on individual species.

Recognizing the northeastern tigrina as distinct means that biologists will have to assess its conservation status and determine what steps need to be taken so that both species of tigrina can be adequately protected.

Ancient Interbreeding

Eizirik and colleagues weren’t looking to discover a new species. Instead, they were looking to understand the evolutionary history of what were thought to be three species of cat from the genus Leopardus:

The Pampas cat (Leopardus colocolo) looks like a large, heavy-set, long-haired house cat. It lives in the grasslands and scrublands of South America, from southern Argentina and Chile up through Peru and Ecuador along the western third of the continent.

Geoffroy’s cat (Leopardus geoffroyi) is roughly the same size as the Pampas cat, with a brownish-yellow or gray coat, black spots on its trunk, and dark bands across its tail and limbs. Like the Pampas cat, Geoffroy’s cat likes scrublands and lives throughout Argentina.

The tigrina (Leopardus tigrinus), also known as the oncilla or little spotted cat, lives throughout much of Central and South America. With a yellow-brown coat and black rosettes, the tigrina looks like a house cat-sized leopard. Scientists had previously identified four sub-populations of tigrina, including the southern tigrina, which lives primarily in Brazil’s mountainous forests, and the northeastern tigrina, which lives in savannahs and grasslands. The coat of the northeastern tigrina is slightly lighter, and the rosettes are sightly smaller, than those of its southern relative.

Eizirik and colleagues obtained DNA samples from a total of 216 different Leopardus cats across their ranges. Analysis of the DNA sequences found in the mitochondria, the cell’s power plant, revealed ancient interbreeding between the Pampas cat and the northeastern tigrina.

Since an individual only inherits mitochondrial DNA from its mother, researchers could peer into the ancient history of these two felines, and found that they mated together frequently before the two cats split into separate species.

Although the Geoffroy’s cat and the southern tigrina divided into separate species over a million years ago, they began to mate together in the more recent past in the areas of southern Brazil and Bolivia where their habitats overlap. While the two cats interbreed regularly at this contact zone, the mating doesn’t extend to farther areas and the two species remain distinct.

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Guardians of the "Gate to Hell" Found: Archaeologists digging in Turkey have found the guardians of the "Gate to Hell" -- two unique marble statues which once warned of a deadly cave in the ancient Phrygian city of Hierapolis, near Pamukkale.

Known as Pluto's Gate -- Ploutonion in Greek, Plutonium in Latin -- the cave was celebrated as the portal to the underworld in Greco-Roman mythology and tradition. It was discovered in March by a team led by Francesco D'Andria, professor of classic archaeology at the University of Salento.

"The statues represent two mythological creatures," D'Andria told Discovery News. "One depicts a snake, a clear symbol of the underworld, the other shows Kerberos, or Cerberus, the three-headed watchdog of hell in the Greek mythology."

The sculptures were found as archaeologists further excavated the area where in March they unearthed the remains of the Plutonium, which included an inscription dedicated to the deities of the underworld -- Pluto and Kore.

The dig revealed the source of the thermal springs, which produce the famous white travertine terraces.

"Pamukkale's springs originate right from this cave," D'Andria said.

PHOTOS: The Hunt for Lost Cities

Believed to have healing properties, the hot springs made the Roman city of Hierapolis -- now a World Heritage Site -- a popular destination for pilgrimages.

Both marble statues emerged from the thermal water, leaving little doubt that the site was indeed Pluto's Gate. The cave was described in historic sources as filled with lethal mephitic vapors.

"This space is full of a vapor so misty and dense that one can scarcely see the ground. Any animal that passes inside meets instant death," the Greek geographer Strabo (64-63 B.C. to about 24 A.D.) wrote about the site.

"I threw in sparrows and they immediately breathed their last and fell," he added.

NEWS: Ancient City Found Beneath Biblical-Era Ruins

Strabo's account was confirmed during the excavation, as D'Andria and colleagues found several dead birds and insects near the opening.

In the previous excavation, the archaeologists also found the remains of a temple, a pool and a series of steps placed above the cave -- all matching the descriptions of the site in ancient sources.

The site represented an important destination for pilgrims. People watched the sacred rites from steps above the cave opening, while priests sacrificed bulls to Pluto. The ceremony included leading the animals into the cave, and dragging them out dead.

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Kraken Sea Monster : A recent fossil find is renewing interest in the search for the ancient giant cephalopod known as the kraken.

The idea of a kraken was originally proposed a couple of years ago at the meeting of the Geological Society of America by Mount Holyoke College palaeontologist Mark McMenamin.

Now he has returned to the annual meeting with what he believes is more evidence of the kraken, including what could be the tip of its tooth-like beak, another example of a potential kraken murder case, and the earliest-known fossil of a scavenger crustacean that is today among those found devouring whale carcasses in the ocean depths.

The initial evidence for the kraken was very indirect.

In 2011, McMenamin found signs that the remains of 14-metre ichthyosaurs at Nevada's Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park were arranged in patterns that resembled the work of a modern-day octopus - which are known to fiddle and arrange bones as well as attack and kill sharks.

He also asserted then, as now, that the Nevada rocks in which the ichthyosaurs were found are incorrectly interpreted as being made from shallow ocean sediments, when they are actually from much much deeper.

The kraken hypothesis was not warmly embraced by his colleagues, and McMenamin was going to let the matter drop until he came across an old issue of a journal in which there were photos of a museum display of the ichthyosaurs skeletons that had been removed from the park.

"It was laid out exactly as found in the field and there were rib cage constrictions," says McMenamin. "It was very strange. I'd never seen anything like it before. It looked like something had pulled bones out of place and placed them to one side."

So McMenamin returned earlier this year to Nevada with students in search of additional evidence. What they found was a small rock that they later realised might be part of a giant cephalopod beak - a kraken's maw.

"It's the densest thing on the body of a cephalopod," says McMenamin. And so it's the most likely thing to be preserved in the fossil record. "We obtained a beak of a giant Humboldt squid and compared. That actually worked pretty well. We have direct comparison to modern Humboldt squid. They had very similar fractures and converging straia (lines)."

Doubts linger

These are just more pieces in the kraken case, which is a tough one, as there are other explanations for the evidence.

"The problem with the kraken argument is it does not take into account all the other ways those vertebrae could have been re-arranged," says Spencer Lucas, palaeontologist and curator at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science.

"For example, the body of the ichthyosaur had to decompose and collapse, and scavenging by various animals could have taken place. These processes could have rearranged vertebrae."

Several experts in the area were also asked to comment, but said they preferred not to. Still even Lucas isn't ruling a kraken out.

"I suppose the kraken argument is a possibility, but one of many, and a highly unusual one. What we need here is a more rigorous analysis that excludes the many alternatives to the kraken idea."

On the other hand, there is that scavenger fossil - what's called an amphipod - that was found by one of McMenamin's students. He's giving a second presentation about that find at the same meeting, arguing that it's the earliest known and a supergiant version of today's small crustaceans.

That's a much easier case to make, and important to palaeontologists, if not as racy as a kraken.

"The amphipod is an important addition to our knowledge of a group with a limited fossil record," says Lucas.

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Underwater Azores Pyramid Discovered : Is this remnants of Atlantis? The Azores are located outside of the Pillars of Hercules as described by Homer. An underwater pyramidal structure was identified at a depth of 40 meters off the coast of Terceira Island. The perfectly squared structure was sighted by a private yacht owner, Diocleciano Silva, during a recreational trip.

Is this Atlantis : Remember the city of Troy was thought to be make believe until discovered using Homers notes.

Estimated to be approximately 60 meters high, the enigmatic structure was recorded through GPS digital technology. “The pyramid is perfectly shaped and apparently oriented by the cardinal points,” Silva toldDiário Insular, the local newspaper.

Most recently, archaeologists from the Portuguese Association of Archaeological Research (APIA) have identified archaeological evidence on Pico island that supports their belief that human occupation of the Azores predates the arrival of the Portuguese by many thousands of years.

The evidence comprises of a great variety of protohistoric pyramidal rock structures, some of them 13 meters tall. The structures may have been built according to an oriented plan, aligned with the summer solstices, which suggests they were built with an intended purpose.

The Azorean archipelago was discovered uninhabited by the Portuguese around 1427.

Last year, archaeologists claimed to have found rock art on the island of Terceira, which they believe to be many thousands of years old.

In the last three years, a variety of ancient archaeological remains have been identified on all the nine islands of the Azorean archipelago. They include an epigraph from Roman times, Carthaginian sanctuaries, cave art, and megalithic structures.

Friday, September 6, 2013

Bigfoot Evidence from Quebec : A hunter in the Cree village of Wemindji in Northern Quebec claims he sighted a Bigfoot recently and has the photographs to prove it.Melvin Georgekish says he spotted a pair of the mythic creatures, also known as Sasquatch, while he was driving his pick-up truck along a road in a wooded area near his town.

He said he saw two sets of red eyes staring at him from the forest.

He drove on, then turned around, returning to the spot and flashing his lights, but the red-eyed beasts were gone.

At home, he tossed and turned all night.

"I was thinking and thinking, and there's no animal that has red eyes over here," Georgekish said. "I am a hunter, and I've never seen something like that."

Giant footprints in the moss

He returned to the same spot the next day and found giant footprints in the moss, the likes of which he had never seen before.

He described the footprints as big and wide.

"You can see the toes, too. It's like a human foot, but way bigger than a human foot. Wider, too."

Protectors of the Crees

Legends of Bigfoot are part of Cree oral history, according to Bradley A.J. Georgekish, also of Wemindji — a community of 25 hundred on the east coast of James Bay, 1,400 kilometres northwest of Montreal.

Bradley Georgekish said they are regarded as protectors of the Crees. There have been many stories of sightings but not much proof to date.

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